Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F49A — An animal teaches how to give birth.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewA small animal (mouse, rat, rabbit, two-wombed animal, bird) explains how to give birth. See motif F49.
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms.
F49 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedF49. Women had their stomachs cut open to remove the baby. Someone explains how to give birth or makes childbirth possible.
F49a. A small animal (mouse, rat, rabbit, two-wombed animal, bird) explains how to give birth. See motif F49.
F49B. The hero comes to a people whose women do not know how to give birth. See motif F49.
F49C. In the beginning of time, women do not know how to give birth. See motif F49.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B30B | 96.89% | Animals arise from the remains of a killed person. |
| M47 | 95.77% | When punishing a person or animal or restoring a dismembered body, a character intentionally or accidentally puts his head to his ass. |
| G8C | 94.59% | The first ancestors try to cut down a tree (less often a high rock) to get useful plants hanging on the branches (at the top) or water or fish in the trunk. The damage disappears as soon as the workers are distracted from their work, or periodically. |
| A13B | 94.58% | During an eclipse or at the first appearance of night, ants eclipse the sun. |
| A9 | 94.58% | The moon-woman does not allow her son or husband, the Sun, to destroy people. |
| L3A | 94.58% | Left alone, a woman carelessly calls for someone to help her with the housework; a demon comes and kills the woman or her child. |
| A22B | 94.54% | The sun and its companion burn up. The companion burns in a less intense fire (is thrown into the ashes, etc.); therefore, the moon (or star) is cold. See motif A22. |
| K30A | 94.44% | The wife of the first ancestor flies away with the vultures (usually voluntarily, after she has already cheated on her husband), and the chief (Uito: her brother) brings her back. See motif K30. |
| G4 | 94.32% | Cultivated plants found on or inside a mountain. |
| A22A | 94.30% | Two characters burn; one turns into the present sun, and the other into a less significant celestial object. See motif A22. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
12 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 12 traditions: Bari (incl Fajulu), Kakwa, Papua-NewGuinea Highland Papuans:Trans New Guinea & unclassified:Chimbu,Gimi,KaugelHuli,Gadsup,Kuman,Kutubu,Foi (Foe),Kyaka,Kamano (Kafe),Mawatta,Kukukuku (=Anga,=Sambia;Manki,Nauti,Ejuti),Baruya,Kewa,Tembregak,Menya,Melpa,Wiru,Pondoma, Marshall Islands, incl Ailinglapalap, Arno, Jaluit, Kili, Lae, Maloelap, Majuro, Ratak, Wotho, Ujae, Jaluit (=Jalooj), Namdrik, Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Bari, Sicuani, Cuiva, Waorani, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua)
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